Finding herself penniless after her art-dealer husband Stephan is convicted of theft, Marya Zelli accepts the hospitality of a strange couple, H.J. and Lois Heidler, who let her live in their home.

In 1927 Paris, following the conviction of her art-dealer husband Stephan Zelli (Anthony Higgins) for theft for which he was handed a one-year prison sentence, Marya Zelli (Isabelle Adjani), originally from West India, moves in with her acquaintances, expatriate Brits H.J. (Sir Alan Bates) and Lois Heidler (Dame Maggie Smith). Marya knows that H.J. in particular has more in mind than just providing her lodging out of the goodness of his heart. From behind bars, Stephan encourages Marya to move in with them, not knowing H.J.'s intentions. Marya agrees in part because she, a foreigner, cannot get work and would become destitute otherwise. She learns that she is the latest in a long line of lodgers, and she also learns that H.J. and Lois' marriage is not all that it appears on the surface. The Heidlers' hold on Marya becomes stronger when they convince her that Stephan has no money--and no future in France after his release. Their collective lives become more complicated when Stephan is released from jail and tries to figure out what to do with his life to regain the high standard of living to which he became accustomed.—Huggo